Prior to this assignment I had never used a collaborative or social annotated bibliography in any capacity. I used the website http://www.diigo.com and it was incredibly user-friendly. It was easy to set up a group and add other members, post to the group site, and add annotations and comments to each others’ posts. This site would be a great resource for both my students and colleagues. One of my group members set up the group for us and we were all able to add and contribute with ease.
I really only had one difficulty when I began using this site was that I had to download Google Chrome to effectively use Diigo to its full capacity. Without Chrome I was unable to annotate and highlight the content of a website. However, once Chrome, which is free, was downloaded the site was easy to use and I could even post to Diigo via Chrome. This was very helpful as I did not have to switch back-and-forth between tabs to update and add to the group annotated bibliography.
One of the resources that I contributed to the bibliography was a citation creating website. The site is http://www.citationmachine.netand it is a great resource for students. This site is a fantastic tool during the research process. It helps students correctly generate citations for their references. It will provide both bibliographic and in-text citations for APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles. It can even look up the information for a text based on the ISBN. One of the drawbacks is that students don't learn how to create their own citations and learn the correct way to do it. Rather, they rely on a technological tool to do it for them. This can be integrated into any research-based lesson that requires citations. It could work for any subject area as it is a supplement to any research.
A second site that I contributed was http://www.webmath.com. This site is a great tool for students at home. Often times students will come in and say "I didn't get the homework" or "I didn't know how to do the problems." This site provides step-by-step instructions on how to solve problems. The students types in the problem and this sites not only generates an answer but also shows the steps and explains each one. This could be easily implemented into an academic setting. Students can access this site when they are struggling with a problem. It helps students with their problem solving skills as they have to initiate using this site but it also does more than just provide the answer. One of the cons of this site and others like it is that it does the work for the student. The student does not have to solve the problem for himself or herself. It's a choice the student needs to make - whether to get the work done or to truly understand how to do it.
A third resource that I contributed is a web-based, interactive polling site. The site is www.polleverywhere.com. This site allows you to instantly poll a classroom or group of people and receive the results almost immediately. You can incorporate this into a PowerPoint or other type of presentation. It is free to use and you can ask multiple-choice questions or true-false; basically any type of poll question is available using this site. This tool would be a great way to do a quick check-in of student understanding. It provides anonymity so students don't have to fear embarrassment for not knowing something but also provides the teacher with the information necessary to decide if s/he should continue on to the next topic or spend more time on the current one. One of the cons of this site is that it is anonymous. The teacher is not able to find out who does not understand something and, therefore, cannot provide extra assistance to that individual student.
Reflection:
Prior to this assignment I had never used a collaborative or social annotated bibliography in any capacity. I used the website http://www.diigo.com and it was incredibly user-friendly. It was easy to set up a group and add other members, post to the group site, and add annotations and comments to each others’ posts. This site would be a great resource for both my students and colleagues. One of my group members set up the group for us and we were all able to add and contribute with ease.
I really only had one difficulty when I began using this site was that I had to download Google Chrome to effectively use Diigo to its full capacity. Without Chrome I was unable to annotate and highlight the content of a website. However, once Chrome, which is free, was downloaded the site was easy to use and I could even post to Diigo via Chrome. This was very helpful as I did not have to switch back-and-forth between tabs to update and add to the group annotated bibliography.
One of the resources that I contributed to the bibliography was a citation creating website. The site is http://www.citationmachine.netand it is a great resource for students. This site is a fantastic tool during the research process. It helps students correctly generate citations for their references. It will provide both bibliographic and in-text citations for APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles. It can even look up the information for a text based on the ISBN. One of the drawbacks is that students don't learn how to create their own citations and learn the correct way to do it. Rather, they rely on a technological tool to do it for them. This can be integrated into any research-based lesson that requires citations. It could work for any subject area as it is a supplement to any research.
A second site that I contributed was http://www.webmath.com. This site is a great tool for students at home. Often times students will come in and say "I didn't get the homework" or "I didn't know how to do the problems." This site provides step-by-step instructions on how to solve problems. The students types in the problem and this sites not only generates an answer but also shows the steps and explains each one. This could be easily implemented into an academic setting. Students can access this site when they are struggling with a problem. It helps students with their problem solving skills as they have to initiate using this site but it also does more than just provide the answer. One of the cons of this site and others like it is that it does the work for the student. The student does not have to solve the problem for himself or herself. It's a choice the student needs to make - whether to get the work done or to truly understand how to do it.
A third resource that I contributed is a web-based, interactive polling site. The site is www.polleverywhere.com. This site allows you to instantly poll a classroom or group of people and receive the results almost immediately. You can incorporate this into a PowerPoint or other type of presentation. It is free to use and you can ask multiple-choice questions or true-false; basically any type of poll question is available using this site. This tool would be a great way to do a quick check-in of student understanding. It provides anonymity so students don't have to fear embarrassment for not knowing something but also provides the teacher with the information necessary to decide if s/he should continue on to the next topic or spend more time on the current one. One of the cons of this site is that it is anonymous. The teacher is not able to find out who does not understand something and, therefore, cannot provide extra assistance to that individual student.